Small Green Roof & York Stone Front Garden Design, London

A small green roof for a bespoke recycle bin and rubbish store filled with pollinator friendly planting. A York stone path and parking space with Yorkshire stone chippings. Put together they make a stylish, easy maintenance front garden design that is both modern yet complimentary to Victorian architecture.

Clients Brief:

A total re-think of the front garden and driveway now that the work inside the house was complete. The space had to be pleasant to look at but also practical. Wildlife friendly plants were also on the list of priorities.

Front Garden Design:

The mellow yellow London bricks, recently cleaned, suggested to me that the front garden design should have either contrasting Welsh slate or complimentary York stone. We decided on a restricted tonal range for the hard landscaping. This extended to painting the garden wall, fence and bespoke bin store in soft tones to pick up the soft gold of the York stone path.

City front gardens are hardworking spaces. But there is no reason why car parking and recycling boxes should prevent good garden design, including environmental elements without compromising easy maintenance aftercare.

Our clients were pleased with their new front garden which had: –

A large expanse of semi-permeable chippings for car parking; allowing for water to be absorbed rather than run off-site to cause flooding. This is critical when many front gardens still flout the laws about non-permeable paving

The small green roof is an integral part of the bespoke bin store and recycle box cover. The planting has a three-fold function

It replaces green space taken up by the bins and parking which is good for air quality and flood prevention

The flowering plants provide food for pollinators

They provide a decorative and practical feature for the owners’ front garden

Wildlife friendly planting is scented to attract pollinators and give pleasure to the owners. Year-round interest means there’s always something to delight the eyes and nose. The taller bin store is planted with alpines, mainly evergreen. The recycle box small green roof has deeper soil to allow for a range of plants. There was even room for a small border near the house.

Design and planting by Plews Garden Design. The hard landscaping was carried out by our sibling company, Plews Garden Landscaping